Discover the secret to the stability and cohesion of Ancient Egypt—religion. When people share a core set of beliefs, they are more likely to identify as one. That was true for the first civilizations and it’s just as true today.

FIRST CIVILIZATIONS explores Mesoamerica, the Middle East and the Indus Valley to learn how and why early humans created villages, towns, cities and states, establishing the blueprint for the modern world.

War
This episode examines the process of “destructive creation” – the idea that fear, rivalry and conflict strengthen community bonds, while stimulating an arms race of technological progress.

When classical musicians are joined by Klamath drummers for an extraordinary world premiere inspired by Oregon’s breathtaking Crater Lake, deep connections between people, art and nature are revealed in an environment rich with historic and spiritual significance.

This new half-hour documentary artfully portrays the world premiere of “Natural History,” the powerful composition by Michael Gordon inspired by and performed at the edge of legendary Crater Lake. The original score, commissioned by the Britt Music & Arts Festival in honor of the centennial of America’s National Park Service, brought members of the Britt Orchestra together with a diverse ensemble of musicians, including the Klamath tribe family drum group Steiger Butte Singers, regional choristers, brass and percussionists, led by charismatic conductor Teddy Abrams.

Trekker Adela Ucar kicks off her visit in the capital of Lagos, an anarchic and electric city with a vital night life. Next she journeys to Yoruba Land in the southwest, thought to be the site of the Queen of Sheba’s tomb. Adela later meets witch doctors in Oyo, travels to the historic walled cities in the north, visits the Kurmi Market and encounters a rare mountain gorilla in Nigeria’s eastern highlands.

The first permanent European settlement in the United States was founded in 1565–two generations before the settlements in Jamestown and Plymouth–not by English Protestants, but by the Spanish and a melting pot of people they brought with them from Africa, Italy, Germany, Ireland and even converted Jews, who integrated almost immediately with the indigenous tribes. Secrets of Spanish Florida – A Secrets of the Dead Special uncovers one story of America’s past that never made it into textbooks. Follow some of America’s leading archaeologists, maritime scientists, and historians as they share the story of Florida’s earliest settlers. It’s a story that has taken more than 450 years to reveal.

Follow two Native American judges who reach back to traditional concepts of justice in order to reduce incarceration rates, foster greater safety for their communities, and create a more positive future for their youth.

This film explores the sublime bond between people and their land. For the past 150 years, the relationship between the Tūhoe Maori tribe and the New Zealand government has been defined by longstanding grievances over severe colonization experiences. The film captures a period of change in 2014, when the Tūhoe’s ancestral homelands were returned, the New Zealand government issued an official apology, and the Tūhoe built the first-ever “Living Building” in New Zealand as a testament to their values and vision of self-governance.

Like millions of indigenous people, many Native American tribes do not control their own material history and culture. For the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes living on the isolated Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, contact with lost artifacts risks opening old wounds, but also offers the possibility for healing. This film tells the story of how a young journalist and a teenage powwow princess, both of the Arapaho tribe, traveled together with a Shoshone elder in search of missing artifacts in the vast archives of Chicago’s Field Museum.

The Bakken oil boom is bringing billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs to North Dakota. A substantial part of the oil production is concentrated on an Indian reservation. Fort Berthold Reservation’s 1,000-plus oil wells have brought in money and jobs for some, but oil has also brought danger – organized crime, hard drugs, traffic fatalities – and other problems. Tribe members speak about the benefits and consequences of the boom.